This fall has been full of military shows, but none have been as closely based on real events as National Geographic’s new miniseries The Long Road Home, based on a book by ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz. Is this account of an early Iraq War battle nuanced or an exercise in jingoism?

A Guide to Our Rating System

Opening Shot: The opening of a pilot can set a mood for the entire show (think Six Feet Under); thus, we examine the first shot of each pilot.The Gist: The “who, what, where, when, why?” of the pilot.Our Take: What did we think? Are we desperate for more or desperate to get that hour back?Sex and Skin: That’s all you care about anyway, right? We let you know how quickly the show gets down and dirty.Parting Shot: Where does the pilot leave us? Hanging off a cliff, or running for the hills?Sleeper Star: Basically, someone in the The Long Road Home cast who is not the top-billed star who shows great promise.Most Pilot-y Line: Pilots have a lot of work to do: world building, character establishing, and stakes raising. Sometimes that results in some pretty clunky dialogue.Our Call: We’ll let you know if you should, ahem, Stream It or Skip It.

THE LONG ROAD HOME

Opening Shot: A soldier walks through an Army field hospital, seeing the number of dead and wounded from a battle. The graphic on the screen says “April 4, 2004” and “Camp War Eagle, Sadr City.”

The Gist: On that date, the 1st Calvary Division, based in Fort Hood, TX, was on a routine detail supervising Iraqi sanitation workers in what many thought was the “safest” part of Baghdad after the initial invasion phase that toppled Saddam Hussein. The division only expected to be there as a peacekeeping force, but as we all know now, that’s not how things turned out.

A patrol, commanded by Lt. Shane Aguero (E.J. Bonilla) gets pinned down in a Sadr City neighborhood as local resistance forces start shooting at their vehicles, not all of which have a full complement of armor. They hold up in a house down an alley because one of their patrol takes a hit and they need somewhere where they can perform triage.

National Geographic/Van Redin

Meanwhile, back at the camp, another set of soldiers are getting ready to help with the exfiltrattion of the patrol. One, Pfc. Thomas Young (Noel Fisher), seems to be ready to go, but his platoon’s leader, Sgt. Robert Miltenberger (Jeremy Sisto), a vet of Afghanistan and other battles, knows that nothing about war is glorious.

Also back at the base is Lt. Col. Gary Volesky (Michael Kelly), the division’s CO, who promised the parents of all the soldiers before their deployment that everyone would come back alive. Now, things are going sideways, and he’s conflicted about what he’ll be asking his men to do to get that patrol out safely. One of his right-hand men, Capt. Troy Denomy (Jason Ritter) helps lead one of the rescue patrols, but the doubt is etched on his face as he gets his orders from Volesky.

Back home, Volesky’s wife Leann (Sarah Wayne Callies) is in charge of providing information and support of the families on the base, including Denomy’s wife Gina (Kate Bosworth). She organizes a family support organization, and reassures Gina and others when they hear rumors of gunfire in Sadr City. Little does she know how much trouble her husband’s division is in.

Our Take: This is a fictionalized account of the non-fiction book of the same name by ABC News correspondent Martha Raddatz. The show tries to stay as faithful as possible to the source material, and in each hour of the two-hour premiere, concentrates on a different character while telling the continuing story. That method of storytelling helps, because there are a lot of characters to keep track of, so concentrating on the backstory of one at a time helps viewers flesh out what’s at stake.

National Geographic/Van Redin

The battle took eight lives and injured more than 70, so it stands to reason that some of the soldiers we’re going to be introduced to won’t make it. The first casualty is Sgt. Eddy Chen (Kenny Leu), which we don’t know much about. But one of the major characters likely will get killed, and that scene is going to be a gut punch to watch.

Though the first two episodes do delve a bit into some “us vs. them” rhetoric, Mikko Alanne’s adaptation of Raddatz’ book is much starker and delves into more grey areas than shows like SEAL Team and The Brave does. Not everyone is happy to be in Iraq, and not all family members are happy that they’re there, given the fact that the Bush Administration’s justification for going in, Saddam’s WMD program, hasn’t been found yet. While some soldiers are happy to take out the head of a gun-toting local, others know that they’re killing someone’s husband, wife, son or daughter. The family of the house the patrol comandeers is conflicted, with the father happy the Americans toppled Saddam, but the son wishing they weren’t occupied by a Western power. Even the patrol’s translator, Jassim (Darius Homayoun), isn’t sure which side he should be on.

It’s definitely a compelling miniseries with fantastic performances, not the least of which is Kelly as the stoic Volesky, who is a modern-day military leader who is as concerned with his soldiers’ welfare as much as executing the missions he’s given. Ritter’s great year continues as the conflicted young officer Denomy. And Bonilla is fantastic as Augero, who keeps his cool despite all hell breaking loose around him. Callies is also great as the families’ rock back home.

Sex and Skin: It’s all business here.

Parting Shot: At the end of the two hours, we see Volesky plaintively watching his troops leave on the exfil mission, knowing that Chen is dead and a unit that was about to leave Iraq went in on his request and came under heavy fire and sustained casualties.

National Geographic/Van Redin

Sleeper Star: We definitely want to see more of Bonilla. And Sisto was unrecognizable as the severely damanged Sgt. Miltenberger; we definitely want to see his story.

Most Pilot-y Line: Maybe when Aguero’s son, angry that his dad is leaving, throws a toy at him and tells him he hopes he doesn’t come back. It feels a bit melodramatic, but it’s a minor quibble.

Our Call: Stream It. Great performances and a nuanced view of one of the most controversial wars in American history makes for compelling viewing, especially reminding us that this country sometimes doesn’t learn from its mistakes.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, VanityFair.com, Playboy.com, Fast Company’s Co.Create and elsewhere.